Snowed under

Britons used to feel responsible for coping with difficult situations.

6:59PM GMT 06 Feb 2009

Five days of snow in many parts of Britain have reminded us that we are a northern country – albeit a maritime one – that can have harsh winters. Okehampton in Devon, on the edge of Dartmoor, yesterday reported 55cm of level snow – almost two feet. In north-east Scotland, perhaps more used to such conditions, there have been blizzards much of the week. Northern Ireland is blanketed in white. Wales has had its share, as have London and the South East. The weather has always been a favoured topic of conversation for the British; this week, it has supplanted the economic crisis as the most talked-about subject, leading the news bulletins on television and taking up acres of space online and in all newspapers. And for all that we complain about the lack of grit on the roads, the icy pavements, the closed schools, the shut airports, the late trains, the impounded buses, the ridiculous warnings "not to venture out unless absolutely essential", don't we all really love it? On the other hand, it has also demonstrated what a changed nation we are compared to, say, 1963, when much of the country was frozen solid for three months. Then, schools stayed open; this week, thousands have closed. Then, most people felt personally responsible for coping with difficult conditions. Nowadays, we always look to someone else to do it for us.